1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to fitness equipment, and more particularly to interactive fitness equipment, which enhance a sense of competitive to promote more intense exercise.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Moderate exercise, at an appropriate heart rate, is widely regarded today as an excellent way to improve one's health when performed on a regular and frequent basis. Many people prefer individual activities such as cycling, running, rowing, or skiing. These activities are often performed outdoors, usually during good weather conditions. For convenience, climate, or other reasons, many people use stationary exercise devices such as treadmills, stationary bikes or bike stands, treadmills, ski machines, rowing machines, and stair steppers.
One of the drawbacks of using stationary exercise equipment is that the scenery, typically a wall or window, viewed during the exercise period doesn't change. This type of exercising is boring. Typically, the user can counter boredom by watching TV, playing a video game, or simply letting his/her mind wander. However, these methods don't provide much real incentive for user participation and an enhanced exercise experience.
Indeed, the use of stationary exercise machines has risen in recent times due to the awareness of greater health benefits that result from regular exercise. These machines are found in gyms and health clubs as well as homes. It is not out of the ordinary to find individuals that may spend several hours per week on such machines in the quest for a better physique, increased stamina, and a higher level of overall general health.
However, many people find such long periods of time boring and repetitious. The surroundings never change, the route seldom varies, and the whole workout process just becomes one of tedium until the time limit is obtained, the desired distance is covered, or the number of calories for that session have been burned. One alternative to this is actual jogging or the riding of a conventional bike outside. However, weather and other factors may prevent individuals from exercising outdoors on a regular basis. Indeed, this is often what motivated the use of stationary exercise machines in the first place.
While watching television or listening to the radio may help pass the time while using stationary exercise machines, it does not provide for an interactive exercise session like one may get if actually jogging outdoors or riding a conventional bike. Furthermore, there is seldom any real sense of competition when one is using an exercise machine, and competition often pushes individuals to a higher level of achievement and thus a better workout.
In recent years, health clubs have organized various exercise classes and routines involving a group setting. In the proper setting, a group approach to exercise creates a synergy, whereby individual members of the class derive encouragement and motivation from other members of the group. In addition, group settings promote a healthy sense of competition among group members. Initially, such group fitness and exercise classes typically involved aerobics, traditionally performed without the use of any ancillary exercise equipment or devices. In recent years, however, the group workout approach has been extended to classes that utilize various exercise devices. Take, for example, the recent rise in popularity of “Spinning Classes,” in which each participant operates his or her own stationery exercise cycle in a group setting, with a coach or instructor leading the group through a prescribed program or routine. Similarly, with recent advances in the design of treadmills, it is possible to have “Treadmill Classes” wherein an instructor not only leads and motivates the group, but the instructor is also able to control the operation of the treadmills of all of the class participants from a single control panel.
One of the disadvantages with group training, however, is that it is typically available only at health clubs and/or only at specified times and, therefore, is not as convenient as exercising in the privacy and comfort of one's own home.
Some efforts have been made in the prior art to introduce a level of “interactivity” into exercise machines. For example, video exercise control systems are known in which a video cassette recorder or similar device is coupled, via a hard-wired connection, to an exercise machine, such as a treadmill, and wherein the speed and inclination of the treadmill are controlled by the VCR in synchronization with prerecorded audio/video presentations. Other systems are known, which provide a remote exercise control system in which an exercise machine, such as a treadmill, which includes a control console that communicates via a communications module with an evaluation module located at a remote location. Signals indicative of the operating parameters of the treadmill are transmitted from the treadmill to the evaluation module, and control signals are transmitted from the remote evaluation module for controlling the operating parameters of the treadmill. Still other systems are known, wherein an exercise device is coupled, via hard-wired connection, to a video game device, such that the operating parameters of the exercise device are used as inputs to the video game controller, which then produces a motivational video display based on the inputs received. These approaches, however, do not facilitate live, interactive communications between a treadmill user at home and a trainer or coach in a remote location, which allow the trainer or coach to control the operating parameters of the use's treadmill on a real time basis.
Accordingly, there is a need for a means by which one can utilize a stationary exercise machine and be afforded an interactive session and a sense of competition to heighten motivation and enthusiasm for exercising.